The Unskillful Thaumaturge

XXIII

"So you agree that the twitching is important?" Lillian confirmed.

"Absolutely. I don't know what it signifies, but the fact that we both had it at pretty much the same frequency at the same time is a giveaway. And whatever it is, I think it's linked to him." Galena's voice sounded scratchy through the phone.

"And just one more question- has Erica or anyone else been able to figure out what thaumaturgy he was using?"

"As for that, I have some bad news."

"What?"

"Apart from the stuff he did before he broke out, nothing that he did has been traceable."

"And?"

"First of all, that's not even theoretically possible, efficacy or not. Second of all, that means we can't tell what any of it is. In order to do what he did, he would have to break through a barrier- which is also supposed to be impossible. Most of what I witnessed was probably just illusions, but apparently there's no discovered thaumaturgy capable of knocking a person out like that. And Erica says..."

"What did she say?"

"She wasn't even sure if it could be any particular field of thaumaturgy at all."

"Well, if it wasn't a specific field of thaumaturgy, then what on Earth was it?"

"We don't know."

Lillian glanced up briefly to ensure that her roommates were still engaged in a card game. "Can you elaborate?"

"We think it's a fifth area. Half the people here have already started calling it Fifth Wheel. From what we've seen, it's completely independent from the barriers field. We also thought it might be a subdivision of barriers capable of blocking tracing and breaking barriers which was being used along with telekinesis to do all of that, but that still doesn't explain how I got knocked out. After all, people have their own natural barriers, and after checking, no thaumaturgy or even external signs were traced to me, and my barrier was undisturbed."

"I'm sorry- Fifth Wheel?"

"Diane's idea, of course. She was saying it a bit scornfully, and she's still doubtful. But other people bought it at once. Erica, Rolf, Janelle. They're using it to justify so many different things that it's getting annoying. I feel like it's pretty negligent to just explain everything away like that without any real evidence."

"What do you think? It sounds like he might have used it to make our eyes..."

"Honestly, I'd have to go with Diane- I'm not sure. Right now we don't have enough evidence, and I think Erica is tailoring it to fit. Besides, she'd be the first in line to take credit for discovering a new field of thaumaturgy."

"Hey, Lillian! Want to play?" Daria called.

"Sure," Lillian called back, then spoke quickly into the phone. "Look, I have to go. If you have anything else to tell me, please call me later- I'll only be doing homework."

"Sounds good," Galena responded, and promptly hung up.

"Who was that?" Leslie asked, tilting her head to one side. The deck of cards hovered a few inches above the ground, dealing out three hands, but Lillian couldn't tell who was causing it to do so, since neither Leslie nor Daria were looking at it.

"Look, I have to tell you something, okay?" Lillian began. When she saw her roommates' nods, she continued. "All I can tell you is that for various confidential reasons I'm now getting updates on a confidential DIAO investigation. Essentially, calls whenever they figure something out. Next time I get a call from someone else I'll let you know, but usually it'll just be them."